Bournemouth driver sought over early-morning attacks pushing cyclists off bikes

The driver of a gold car in Bournemouth is being sought after he tried repeatedly to push cyclists from their bikes.

The occupants of the car tried twice to push cyclists off their bikes in Poole in a 30 minute period on Sunday September 2.

Poole Police described the attacks as “unprovoked assaults on cyclists."

The first assault was at 6.30am, when a 40-year-old Poole woman was pushed off her bike as she cycled along the Sandbanks Road. She was not seriously injured.

Then the driver atruck again at 6.55am on the Upton bypass when an attempt was made to push a 64-year-old man from Poole off his bike. He managed to stay on his bicycle and was uninjured.

“As we had two reports involving this gold coloured car within half an hour, I suspect that there might have been further incidents and I would urge anyone who has been a victim of a similar incident to contact Dorset Police,” said PC Diffey.

“We all worry about each other riding on the road because of these things that happen,” Anne Stevens, secretary and treasurer of Bournemouth Arrow Cycling Club told the Bournemouth Echo.

“They are going to kill someone,” said Eamonn Deane, chairman of Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers and Daily Echo cycling columnist.

“There is, I feel, an increase in aggressiveness, I have noticed that over the years.”

The incidents echo a case in Yorkshire last month in which a rider suffered serious injuries when he was shoved off his bike during a club run at 30mph.

And in March last year a 73-year-old was hospitalised after he was pushed by occupants of a car in Bolton.